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Ingredients
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On this page I will gather all the descriptions of ingredients that can be found throughout this site. This is not meant to be a complete encyclopaedia or lexicon, the information is rather arbitrary.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Agar: Is found in red algae. The Japanese call it Kanten. Although it can be used to make jelly, it is completely different from gelatine. Agar is a polysaccharide, gelatine is a form of protein. Agar melts and congeals at higher temperature (resp. 90EC/194EF and 45EC/113EF, to 27EC/80.5EF and 20EC/68EF for gelatine). Because of this higher processing temperature agar is used in tropical climates instead of gelatine. Moreover, agar can be used with pineapple, papaya and kiwi-fruit, gelatine won't work with these fruit. 
Agar feels differently in the mouth too: food with gelatine melts on your tongue, agar will have to be chewed. Agar is also known for its use as a culture medium for bacteria. Recipe: Meat Jelly.

Alkanet A herbal colouring made from the roots of borage like plants. Used by the Arabs to colour fabrics and food. Is still in use as a food colouring. Recipe: Strawberry pudding.

Almonds, ground - Ground almonds can be bought in specialized food stores and maybe patisseries. You can also ground blanched almonds in a blender or mortar. Ground almonds are comparable to shredded coconut: you can make 'milk' with it. Almond milk is used in medieval recipes to thicken sauces (just like coconut milk is used in the Indonesian and Indian kitchen). During Lent almond milk was the most important substitute of dairy products (milk, cheese, butter, eggs). There are recipes for almond butter (think: peanut butter) and almond cheese, which resembles marzipan. The substitution of almonds for dairy products was a good one: 100 gram almonds contain twice as much calcium, five times the amount of phosphorus, and no less than hundred times as much iron as 100 gram milk (without industrial additions). Also, almonds contain more vitamin B1, B2, B6, and more $-carotene, 10% fibres and no cholesterol. Just one negative point: they also contain ten times the calories fat milk has. Recipes: Fake fish (medieval apple pie), Strawberry pudding, Tasty hedgehogs.

Almond milk - You add to 150 gram ground almonds 1 litre water. Let soak for twenty minutes. Pass through a sieve with a piece of cloth in it. The drained and squeezed liquid is the almond milk (You can repeat the process with the same almonds to obtain more milk). The used ground almonds can be recycled: add them to dough or other (medieval) dishes. When you have to grind the almonds yourself, let 120 gram almonds soak several hours in 1 litre water, then crush them with the water in a blender. Sieve this in a sieve with a piece of cloth in it. Recipe: Fake fish (medieval apple pie)

Almond paste - Almond paste can be bought, but you can easily make it yourself: grind blanched sweet almonds to a flour (or buy ground almonds), add as much sugar in weight as you have ground almonds, and add 1 egg for every 100 to 150 gram of almond flour (depending on the size of the eggs). A cheap replacement of almond paste is a paste made with ground legumes (I believe haricot beans are used). This is a good substitution for people with nut allergy. Recipe: Speculaas with rich almond filling.

Ambergris - Not to be confused with amber that is a resin. Just like musk (a secretion of the gonads of the musk deer and some other animals), ambergris was used in medieval Arab dishes, but now they are mainly ingredients for perfumes. You could say ambergris is a pellet of the sperm-whale. It is a waxlike substance in which indigestible remains like the beaks of squid are encapsuled. From time to time the sperm-whale emits large pellets, just to be rid of them. 'Fresh' ambergris smells of shit (manure, if you think that sounds better) and has a dark colour. Influenced by sunlight, salt water, and air the ambergris matures. It looks lighter, grayish, and the smell gets to resemble isopropanol (that is what Wikipedia says). Ambergris is one of the ingredients of Chanel no.5.
You can find ambergris washed ashore on ocean beaches, or fish it up from the sea. If you are lucky. If you want to buy some, prepare to pay a lot. There is a vegetable substitute, labdanum resinoid, the purified resin of the cistus rose (Cistus labdanifer), that can be used instead of ambergris (this also happens in the perfume industry).

Amylum - A kind of starch. Today most starch is made from maize or potatoes, but in Roman days it was made from wheat, by repeatedly moistening and drying in the sun of wheat flour. The final result was starch, amulum.

Anchovy - A small fish, Engraulis ecrasicolus, that lives in the Mediteranean and other waters. Where I live (The Netherlands, incase you hadn't noticed yet), we seldom eat fresh anchovy. Our anchovy comes salted in glass pots or canned in oil. Use salted anchovy rather than in oil, the flesh is firmer, they taste better, and if you need but a few fillets, you'll never get the can closed again. But if you use salted anchovy, take care to steep them in water or milk for ten minutes, else they'll be too salty. Recipes: Garum, Capon with caper sauce, Salmon Salad.

Apricots - The apricot (Prunus armeniaca) belongs to the same famliy as prune, peach, cherry and almond. These fruit belong to the larger family of rosaceous plants, which also contains apple, pear and quince. The fruit originated in China, where it was already cultivated two thousand years before its introduction, in the first century B.C., in Persia (Iran). Shortly thereafter the apricot reached Greece and Rome. The Romans called the fruit praecocium, because of its early maturation. In the English apricot you can still recognize the Latin name.

Asparagus - The season for asparagus is short -at leasat, it is in the Netherlands: from mid-April to the 24th of June (Saint John's) the white stalks that are harvested have grown outdoors. Asparagus is not white by its own choice. If you leave them alone the stalks will peep out above the soil and turn green in the sunlight. 
Nowadays you can buy green asparagus all year round. In my opinion you can't exchange white asparagus for green and vice versa in whatever recipe you want to prepare, they each have their own flavour. It is not impossible to use green or white asparagus for the same recipe, but the finished dish will be quite different. Just remember: canned asparagus are NOT an option! Recipe: Roman patina with asparagus and quail.

Aubergine - This "vegetable" is botanically a fruit. Other such fake vegetables are garden peas, string beans and corn, and also cucumber, courgette (zucchine), tomato and sweet pepper. That we call this fruit vegetables has to do with the way we use them in the kitchen. 
Aubergines are notorious for the amount of fat they manage to absorb when they are fried. Sprinkling cut aubergines with salt was once done to remove the bitterness of the fruit, but now the bitterness has been eleminiated by selective growing it still has its use because it also lessens the amount of fat the aubergine will absorb. However, the aubergine will still absorb some of the fat, so it is best to pat the aubergines after frying with kitchen towels to remove all excess fat.
Aubergines originate from India. The Arabs brought this fruit to Europe in the thirteenth century. Recipes: Arab meatballs in aubergine sauce, aubergines in aubergine sauce.

B

Blood sausage - What a pity that it is so difficult to obtain fresh pig blood! Cookbooks from Apicius till very recent have recipes for blood sausages and black puddings. Even my butcher's handbook from 1965 (Moderne beenhouwerij en charcuterie) has no less than sixteen recipes for blood sausage. The Dutch blood sausage for baking is made with pig's blood, meal of rye or buckwheat, spices and diced lard. But there are many variations, such as the 'Rotterdam blood sausage', with pork jowl, rind, blood, salt and saltpetre, black pepper, cloves and marjoram, no grains. Other blood sausages were with tongue or kidney, arranged attractively (see picture).
 

Bone Marrow -  'The soft, nutritious substance found in the internal cavities of animal bones, especially the shin bones of oxen and calves' (The Oxford Companion to Food). It used to be a delicacy, but now it is looked upon with suspicion (BSE, cholesterol). This distrus and repulsion is not justified. Bone marrow contains iron, phosphorus, vitamin A, and contains 75% monounsaturated fat which is believed (though not yet proven beyond a doubt) to reduce the risk of heart disease and even some cancers. Since the shin bone is not connected to the brain or spine, there is no risk of BSE.
Modern use of bone marrow is limited to soup bones and ossobucco.
Before using bone marrow, you have to prepare it. The bones have to soak for at least twelve hours in salted water which has to be refreshed several times. You'll see the water turn pink from the blood that is extracted from the bone marrow by the salted water. After soaking rinse the bones and dep them dry.
Bone marrow can be prepared in to fashions: you can boil them or roast them. If you boil them, fifteen minutes is enough. Roasting takes about as much (or little) time, in a preheated oven of 225-240EC/435-465EF. Just place the bones upright in a greased baking tray. When the bones are done, they are served on a plate with a special marrow spoon. The marrow is scooped out of the bones, spread on freshly toasted bread and sprinkled with salt.
The marrow spoon dates from around 1700, when serving roasted marrow bones was quite popular. The spoon can be used at both sides, for narrow and wider marrow bones. Recipes: Pasties with marrow, Stuffed quinces.

Bouquet garni - A bundle of aromatic herbs, that is added to stock or stew. They are removed before serving the dish. The usual combination is parsley, thyme and bayleaf, but other herbs can also be used, like rosemary, sage or chervil. The term bouquet (without the garni) is already used by François La Varenne in 1651 in his stock recipe (Le Cuisinier François, II), but except for cloves he doesn't specify the herbs. However, in the second edition he mentions parsley, chives and thyme. Pierre de Lune (Le cuisinier) also uses the bouquet in 1656, but he calls it a paquet, consisting of thyme, chervil, parsley and clove, and a piece of lard when the dish was to be served on a meat day. 17th century stock, Potage à la Reine, Salsify fritters.

Brewer's yeast - Until the fifteenth century fermenting was caused by wild yeasts. Bread was baked with sourdough. Beer (or ale), that was already brewed in prehistoric times by the Egyptians, was fermented with the help of wild yeasts. From the fifteenth to the seventeenth century the yeasts used for brewing were refined by adding the froth of a previous brew to the wort (malted grain, the basis of the beer). In that time only top fermenting beer was produced, hence the yeast in the froth.
Brewer's yeast was also used to bake. Baker's yeast became available in the middle of the nineteenth century. It was considered a great improvement, because the quality of the yeast was more consistent, and it tasted less bitter. Whether brewer's yeast or fresh baker's yeast is easily available depends on where you live. You can also use dried yeast, which will need less rising time. Just see what you can get. Only, don't confuse real brewer's yeast with the health tablets.

Brie - Soft cheese with a crusty white mould, originally made of raw cow milk. It is made in the region East of Paris. Most Brie you can buy today is made from pasteurized milk, to the detriment ot the taste of the cheese, but it eliminates listeria bacteria. That is important for pregnant women, because it can cause miscarriage or a very sick baby. However, if you or your guests aren't expecting, look for unpasteurized Brie. By the way, in unpasteurized Gouda cheese there's no danger of listeria because of the different production process.
Brie has a long history. It was already produced during the reign of Charlemagne who enjoyed the cheese in 774. In the fifteenth century the cheese inspired Charles, Duke of Orleans (1394-1465) to write a little poem to accompany 240 whole Bries that were send to as many ladies at the court:  Mon doux coeur, je vous envoie / Soigneusement choisi par moi / Le brie de Meaux délicieux. / Il vous dira que, malheureux, / Par votre absence je languis / Au point d'en perdre l'appétit. / Et c'est pourquoi je vous l 'envoie. / Quel sacrifice c'est pour moi! (source: Duizend gezichten van zuivel). Famous is the anecdote about the Congress in Vienna in 1814/1815, when Talleyrand, to lighten the mood, organized a competition between the attending nations which produced the best cheese. Brie was the unanimous favourite and received the honorary title roi des fromages, et fromage des rois. Recipe: Jacobin sops.

Buckwheat - This is not a cereal, but a plant from the same family as rhubarb and sorrel. Buckwheat is native to the Far East, the temperate climate zone. If I understand correctly, buckwheat has come to Europe by two ways: buckwheat first reached Europe by way of Russia. In the fifteenth century the plant entered Germany. Later the plant reached Southern Europe through the Middle East (hence the French name for this plant: Sarassin). Btw, the English name "buckwheat" is derived from the Dutch "boekweit", litt. "beech wheat", because of its resemblance to beech nuts.
Since buckwheat contains no gluten, you can't bake bread just with buckwheat flour. Famous dishes with buckwheat are blinis (Russian pancakes) and soba (Japanese noodles). Recipe: Medieval bread.

Burnet - A perennial (Sanguisorba minor) with decorative leaves and sweet little flowers. Indigenous to Europe. The young green is used in salads and cooling drinks. Recipe: Salmon Salad.

Butter from Isigny - Isigny is situated in Normandy, between Cherbourg and Le Havre. The butter from Isigny was famous as early as the sixteenth century. The producers claim that the combination  of briny sea-breeze and the quality of the meadows the cows graze on give butter from Isigny its unique quality. Recipe: Mint soufflé.

C

Canary sugar - Simply sugar from the plantations on Canary Islands.

Capers - These are the pickled unripe flowerbuds of the Capparis spinosa L. The shrub is indigenous to the regions around the Mediterranean, and its flowerbuds were already eaten in Antiquity. They are never eaten raw. Recipes: Broiled fish with three sauces, Capon with caper-sauce, Salmon Salad.

Capon - A capon is a castrated cock. It was customary to castrate male animals to fatten them up. Animals of the female sex could be productive in other ways: reproduction, production of eggs or milk. The males have limited use (gentlemen, don't take this personally!). Cocks were castrated ever since chickens are held as domestic animals. The capon is larger than the cock, about the size of a goose. However, capons have more meat than geese, because a goose has rather heavy bones. The taste of capon is not so spectacularly different from chicken that you have to go looking for a castrated cock, just buy a free-range poularde. Recipe: Capon with caper-sauce. 

Carragene: Like agar, this comes from red algae (Chondrus crispus). It is also known as "Irish moss". The dried algae have to be washed before use, steeped in cold water for thirty minutes, and then boiled for fifteen minutes. The resulting liquid is strained, and will congeal during cooling. 

Cassia - Also known as 'Chinese cinnamon', and indeed, cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum or C. cassia) is related to real cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum or C. zeylanicum). Both trees are indigenous to Southeast Asia. The communis opinio is that cassia is inferior to cinnamon, but, according to Davidson in The OCF, "Good cassia is, however, a respectable spice". If you don't have cassia, use cinnamon. Recipe: Mulahwaja.

Citrus fruit - These belong to the citrus family that originates in the East, from China and North-East India to Australia (because the citrus family is so ancient that it was already in existence when Australia and Asia were part of the same continent). Citrus fruit are attractive because of their exuberant colours (bright green, yellow and orange), they carry in them a a combination of bitter, sweet and sour, and their skin is very aromatic because of the oil just below the surface (in the 'pores'). That typical citrus smell is hardly noticeable if you sniff an orange in the store. To keep their freshness citrus fruit -even the organic ones- are treated with a thin layer of wax. That is not harmful, and when you just want to eat the flesh or use their juice you can totally ignore it. But when you want to use the skin for peels you'll have to remove the wax first. Since wax melts when heated, all you have to do is pour boiling (or hot) water over the fruit. The wax will melt away. Rinse the fruit, pat it dry, and you will be overwhelmed by the lovely scent!
There are many kinds of citrus fruit, but according to Harold McGee only three of those are the ancestors of all others, citron (Citrus medica) which is used for candied peel, mandarin (Citrus reticulata) and pummelo (Citrus grandis of maxima). But if I'm reading my sources Davidson and McGee correctly, there is a fourth ancestor, lime (Citrus aurantifolia). At least, I can't find the combination of the three 'arch-citrusses' that would have resulted in the mandarin. But lemons came into existence in two stadia: a hybrid of citron and lime then combined with pummelo.
The origin of oranges is also muddy. Bitter or sour orange (Citrus aurantium) seems to have no ancestry, all I can find is"[they] come from a different species than the kinds described above [i.e. sweet oranges, C.M.]" (McGee 1994 p.376), sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) is a hybrid of mandarin and pummelo. But why both are called 'orange' remains in the dark. Maybe because they're both about the same size and ... well ... orange.
Lemonade is made with sweet oranges. These were still a novelty in seventeenth century Europe, the first mention dates from the end of the fifteenth century. Bitter oranges were already harvested on Sicily in the eleventh century. By the way, sour oranges are seasonal fruit, you can only buy them in winter (January/February). Marmelade is made with sour oranges.
To use the peel: first remove the wax layer as described above. You can use a fine grater, or a lemon zester. But if you ever need larger pieces of peel, you can best use a flexible knife. Place the skin white side up on a cutting board, let the knife rest with its tip on the board near the skin, and cut away as much of the white as you can. With some practice you can end up with several square centimeters of peel without a trace of white left on it. This can be used to cut out figures for decoration.

Cockscomb - Indeed, the comb of an adult cock or hen. Cockscombs were used as decoration because of their shape. It's difficult (but not impossible) to find cockscombs in the Netherlands, I have no idea how the situation is elsewhere. Because table poultry are killed before they are fully grown (so they do not have fully developed their cockscombs yet) you'll have to find broodhens or other chickens that live into full adulthood.
Preparation (from the Dutch edition of the Larousse Gastronomique): pierce the cockscombs in several places with a needle.Steep them in cold water, squeeze the cockscombs to remove any blood that's still left. Put the cockscombs in a pan with fresh cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for one minute. Drain them, then rub the combs one by one with salt. Rinse with cold water. Now any hairs that were left have been removed. Steep the cockscombs once more until they are white.  Then boil them for thirty minutes with salt, drain again. Now you can use them for garnish or whatever. The cockscombs are not essential for the 'potage à la Reyne', you can leave them out if you want to. Recipe: Potage à la Reyne.

Craponne or Salers - The fromaige de crampone is a pressed cheese of cow milk originating from Craponne in the Auvergne. The modern name of this cheese is Salers, a variation of Cantal. Salers is still produced with raw milk from cows grazing on mountain pasture. But, while Cantal is made all year through, the production of Salers is limited from April 15 to November 15.
 

Coconut - The fruit of the Cocos nucifera is more than the hairy nut you buy at the store. The coconut is a drupe, like peaches and apricots. But whereas you eat the flesh of a peach and throw away its stone, with the cocnut the husk or exocarp is removed before shipping, leaving just that stone. The stone is hollow, with three 'eyes' on one end. If ever the seed germinates, the shoot will emerge through one of those eyes.
In an unripe coconut the hollow is filled with a not very pleasant liquid. As the fruit ripens, the liquid gradually solidifies at the inside of the stone, becoming the white coconut meat. The remaining liquid will become sweet and quite good to drink. Note that what we call 'coconut milk' is NOT that liquid, but the result of soaking grated coconut meat in warm water and straining the resulting liquid.
When you have bought your very first coconut, you may scratch your head and wonder how to open it. First you have to drain the remaing liquid from the nut. Perforate two of the eyes of the nut with an awl, hold it upside down, and catch the liquid in a jar. If you're lucky, it is tasty enough to drink. Then, just place the nut on a hard surface, and give a little tap with a hammer on the 'equator'. Roll, tap again, roll, tap, roll, tap, and suddenly your coconut has split in to! Another method is to tap the nut itself with the 'eye' side downward on a realy hard surface, the nut will split lengthwise.
Coconut meat is radiantly white. You'll have to pry it loose from its shell. Maybe there is an easy way to do this (please tell me!), but my way is simply to take a sharp knif and start with cutting loose small pieces of coconot, then, as more is removed, larger pieces can be pried loose. The thin brown skin with which the white coconut meat adhered to the nut shell can be eaten, you do not need to remove it. However, if you plan on grating the coconut, the skin has to be removed.

Currants - See Raisins
 

D

E

Edible flowers - You can eat flowers. Just think of cauliflower, broccoli, artichokes and zucchini flowers. There are more edible flowers: roses, violets, gillyflowers (Matthiola incana), nasturtium (Tropaeolum), marigolds, some orchids, dandelions, et cetera.
ATTENTION: Do NOT use flowers from a florist. These flowers are often saturated with pesticides and other chemicals, and are not to be eaten! Buy only flowers which you're sure are unsprayed. Some greengrocers can deliver them. Or you can grow them in your own garden (but be sure not to use pesticides and such!).
The taste of flowers is not up to their looks. Whatever form or colour they have, they taste mainly like cress. Sugared flower leaves of violets and roses are delicious and decorative. Recipe: Flowers in jelly for Valentine.

F

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) - In the Middle Ages the seeds were often sugar-coated and served with other sweets at the end of a meal, together with hippocras (spiced wine). Fennel seeds were also used in pies, and the leafy part as herb in for example a summer stew with fish. The stalks were prepared as a vegetable, and there are even recipes for fennel blossom. The white bulbous finocchio was developed in Italy in the 17th century. Recipes: Mortadella, Murri, Medieval bread.

Filo dough - As early as in the eleventh century there was a Turkish layered bread, the direct predecessor of filo dough. But it wasn't until around 1500 that the sheets of dough were rolled to paper thin, even though there had already been written about sheets of dough as thin as grass hoppers wings. 
Filo dough is made with wheat flour, water, oil and salt. In commercially produced filo dough starch is also added. The starch makes the dough slightly transparent when it is baked. For these pasties I have been lazy and used filo dough bought from a shop.
When you buy filo dough it's problaby frozen and has to thaw. Once you start to use it you must keep the dough in foil and/or a moist towel because it dries very quickly.
Just like puff pastry, filo dough is layered. These layers are not from folding and rolling out one sheet of dough repeatedly. De separate sheets are basted with oil or melted butter, sometimes sprinkled with p.a. chopped nuts, and then combined in layers of three to more then fifteen sheets. Then the pastry is deepfried or baked in the oven. Recipe: Medieval Arab pasties.

Fish sauce (liquamen or garum) - A clear liquid made of small fermented fish with much salt and sometimes alsoe several kinds of dried herbs. The Romans used liquamen or garum in the same way we use salt. There is however a difference: salt dehydrates food, liquamen adds liquid to a dish. It was produced in factories and sold in amforas. There were many qualities of garum, from cheap to very expensive. Apicius would no doubt only have used the very best quality. Nowadays in the Far East a kind of fish sauce is still in use in much the same way as the Romans used garum. You can use these sauces as a substitute for garum: Vietnamese nuoc-nam, or Thai nam-pla. You can also try to make your own garum, as the Romans made it at home when they were out of stock (recipe). Recipe: Roman patina with asparagus and quail, Roman broccoli.

Folium indicum - Aromatic leaf of a special kind of cinnamon tree, Cinnamomum tamala. It is still used in the indian cuisine, in some pulaos and byriani. Since it is optional in the original recipe, you can leave it out. Recipe: Roman mussels.

G

Galanga - Both Alpinia galanga (greater galanga) and Alpinia officinarum (lesser galanga) are from South China. The rhizome of lesser galanga has a stronger taste. In Indonesia this spice is called laos, and that is the name by which it is known in The netherlands. In the Middle Ages this was a popular spice. It resembles ginger in taste. Not surprisingly, galanga belongs to the same family. Recipes: Clareit, Medieval Xmas goose, Medieval strawberry pudding, Jacobin sops, Mulahwaja.

Garden peas (Pisum sativum) - Dit zijn niets anders dan gewone groene erwten, maar dan onrijp. Groene erwten worden al zeker drie milennia lang verbouwd. Ze werden meestal gedroogd. In die vorm waren ze met andere peulvruchten zoals capucijners (velderwten of grauwe erwten) een belangrijk basisingrediënt voor soepen en sauzen, vooral in de Vastentijd. 
Omdat doperwten snel in smaak achteruit gaan als ze eenmaal zijn geplukt, kun je het beste diepgevroren erwtjes gebruiken. Doperwten uit blik lijken in de verste verte niet op verse doperwtjes, en de verse erwtenpeulen die je in de zomer kunt kopen zijn al te lang geleden geplukt. Eigenlijk kun je alleen erwtjes uit eigen tuin vers bereiden.

Garum - See fish sauce.

Gelatine: This is an animal product. It is sold as a powder and as leaf gelatine (colourless or red). Use only colourless gelatine for meat stock. Gelatine has no taste. For non-vegetarians gelatine can be used to make vegetable jelies and fish jellies.
Very important: gelatine must never boil. Disslove it in a small quantity of hot (NOT boiling!) liquid, then add it to the cooled liquid. 
Gelatine is used a lot in the food industry to make so called light-products palatable. Just so you know. Recipes: Meat Jelly, Pike in Galentyne.

Gingerbread - Actually I mean the Dutch version here, which is not the same as the English one. The "peperkoek" or "ontbijtkoek" that you can buy in Dutch bakeries and supermarkets is made of rye flour, honey and spices. No fat, no wheat. Although probably not the same thing as meant in the original recipe, it can be used as a substitute in medieval recipes. Recipe: Fake fish (medieval apple pie).

Gooseberry - Gooseberries (Ribes grossularia) were not cultivated before the thirteenth century, but they are indigenous to Europe. Despite the English name, geese do not eat gooseberries. Some say that gooseberries are thus called because of the great combination of gooseberry saice with fatty meat, like that of goose or mackerel. In the north of France gooseberry sauce was a classic accompaniment to mackerel, a fatty fish (the French call the gooseberry groseille maquereau or "mackerel berry").
In the nineteenth century it was believed that the Dutch name kruisbes was derived from the Finding of the True Cross on May 3rd. But the medieval names stekelbesij and kroeselbesij (the modern word kruisbes is derived from this) indicate that it is the hairy skin that gave the berry its Dutch name. (likewise in German: Stachelbeere)
Recipes: Broiled fish with three sauces, Omelette with gooseberries. 

H

Hartshorn - From the antlers of a stag. It used to be a source of ammonia, and was used in the production of smelling salts. In England hartshorn was used in the 17th and 18th century to make jelly. It was also used as a rising agent under the name of baker's ammonia (or ammonium carbonate). Recipe: Tasty hedgehogs.

Hyssop - A small shrub with tiny purple flowers, Hyssopus officinalis. You can grow it easily in your own garden. The taste of the leaves resembles thyme. The plant originates from the Middle East and the Mediterranean, where it was a kitchen herb in classic times. The taste is rather dominant, use it sparingly. According to Alan Davidson (The Oxford Companion to Food) hyssop helps the digestion of fat, which makes it a very good herb in fatty meat dishes. Recipes: Medieval Xmas goose, Soupe Jacobine, Medieval stuffed chicken.

I

Isinglass, fish glue: As one of its names indicates, this is the fishy version of gelatine. The name isenglass is thought to be a corruption of the Dutch huisenblas, which means the gas bladder of the sturgeon. 
Isinglas is indeed made from the gas bladder of the sturgeon, but also of other fish. If you wonder what a gas bladder is, look here. The gas bladder is cleaned and dried, then the outer membrane can be peeled away. The membrane will be cut into strips. Isinglass has to be dissolved in boiling water. That will take about thirty minutes. It takes 35 gram isinglass to make 1 litre jelly.
The culinary use of isinglass is very old, it is mentioned in medieval cook books (as in this recipe). Isinglass is expensive, but it can still be bought. Hobby brewers still use it to clarify their wine or ale.

K

L

Lamprey - There are mainly two kinds: the river lamprey (Lampreta fluviatilis), and the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). In Dutch there is a third animal that is called lamprei, it is used to designate a young rabbit. Recipe: Blancmange with crayfish.

Lard - This is pig fat, heated and strained. Nowadays lard is not as popular as it used to be, because of the high percentage of saturated fat. But, just as one can occasionally eat an oversweet cake with heaps of whipped cream, one can prepare a dish with lard once in a while. Lard was widely used as cooking fat in the past, and modern Chinese cuisine still uses lard a lot.
To make lard: Take a pound of fresh or salted pork fat. Chop it in chunks, put in a skillet without adding anything, heat at low temperature, stir occasionally. After 30 to 45 minutes you'll have cracklings and lard. Craxcklings are a treat for those people who like them (I do!). Dogs and cats also love cracklings, but give it sparingly if at all, because of the fat, and the salt (if you used cured fat). During the heating of the pork fat you can add herbs or spices like bay leaf, mace, clove, pepper. Strain the lard, put in a jar and keep in the refrigerator (keeps for months).
Pastry dough prepared with lard in stead of butter tastes great. An added bonus is that your hands will become incredibly smooth when kneading the dough, very good for dry skin (and your dog/cat will surely love to be petted by you afterwards!). Recipes: Firm shortcrust, Dough for empenada, Marinated veal cutlets, Medieval stuffed chicken.

Lemon - See Citrus fruit

Liquamen - See fish sauce. 

Loafsugar - We buy our sugar mostly granulated or powdered, but in the past sugar was sold as cone-shaped loafsugar. Before using it, the sugar had to be grated on special graters. Before 1600 all sugar was cane sugar. I don't know whether it is the same everywhere else, but in the Netherlands cane sugar is always light brown, either from added molasses, or from not being 100% refined. Refined cane sugar is as white as refined beet sugar. Unrefined brown sugar may contain small traces of minerals and such, but nothing you don't get by consuming your ordinary daily food. However, there is a slight difference in flavour, brown sugar has more taste.
The loafsugars on medieval miniatures are white, not brown. The cane sugar was as refined as possible. If you want to prepare medieval recipes the authentic way, you'll have to use white, refined cane sugar. If you can't get that, you'll have to choose: either use unrefined cane sugar which has a slightly different flavour and can end up colouring the prepared dish in an unintended way, or use refined beet sugar which has the same flavour and colour as refined cane sugar, but is actually an anachronism. Recipes: Stuffed eggs, Hypocras.

Long pepper - Also known as Javanese pepper (Piper longum). The very small grains grow in flower spikes, and that is how you can buy them. If you can't find it, simply use (more) black pepper.
Long pepper was already known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and it is not always differentiated from black pepper (Piper nigrum). Towards the end of the Middle Ages long papper gradually dissappears from the kitchen, but it was still used occasionally in the sixteenth century. Long pepper is hotter than black pepper, but not as hot as chilli peppers. Recipe: Medieval stuffed chicken

Lovage - Levisticum officinale. An umbelliferous plant (like wild celery and parsley) that was popular in the classic Roman kitchen, and still used in the Middle Ages. You can grow it in your garden. When flowering, it can grow as tall as 2 meters. The taste is rather overbearing, use it in small amounts. It is very nice in stock. Recipes: Roman mussels, Beef Stock, Roman broccoli.

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Mackerel - When you buy fish it is almost cleaned. Mackerel and sardines however still have their entrails (at least in the Netherlands). The fismonger will draw the fish for you, or you have to do this yourself in your kitchen. When you do, make sure you do this immediately. The entrails of a mackerel deteriorate rather fast. If you have bought your fish in the morning and wait with disemboweling it until just before you want to prepare it at night, chances are you unpack an exploded mackerel, or a fish with a repulsively soft belly. Recipe: Broiled fish with three sauces.

Mallard - Wild ducks are smaller than the white domesticated ones, they weigh around 2 pounds, tame ducks weigh 5 to 8 pounds. Mallards also have a much lower percentage of fat. The hunting season is from august to february, but mallards are at their best in september, before the cold sets in. However, wild duck can be bought frozen all year. Always check your mallard for pellets before preparing it.
In the Netherlands you can also buy kooieenden. According to my lexicon these are decoy ducks in English. See decoy in Wikipedia. Ducks that are caught in a decoy are not shot but killed by breaking their neck, so they won't have pellets and contusions. Recipe: Mallard with onion sauce

Marjoram - In Latin Origanum majorana. The koitchen herb oregano is wild marjoram, Origanum vulgare. Marjoram is the cultivated variety, but very old, it is already used in the classical Greek and Roman kitchens. In a temperate climate like the Netherlands marjoram is an annual herb, it has trouble surviving the winter. Oregano is stronger, but tastes better in a warmer climate. Recipe: Jacobin sops.

Marsala - Sweet Italian wine from the isle Sicily. Often drunk as aperitive. See Wikipedia for more information. Recipe: Zabaglione.

Medlar - The fruit of a small tree (the Mespilus germanica) that is related to apples. The fruit resembles an apple, but what is at the core of the apple, is visible at the underside of the medlar. They are, even when fully ripened, unedible, they are too firm. The saying "rotten as a medlar" comes from the fact that only when the fruit is brown and soft through fermentation it can be eaten. And even then many people are repulsed by the medlar.
Medlars used to be added to must to enhance taste and durability, which is probably also why Vorsselman advizes added medlars to verjuice. Recipe: Verjuice.

Monosodium Glutamate, or ve-tsin or aji-nomoto - A flavour-enhancer that is used in Asia, but also in the food-processing industry. Some people are allergic to it. Use it sparingly, or better is not to use it at all. Recipe: Chinese tomatoe soup.

Mozarella - A fresh cheese made from the milk of buffalos. Another buffalo cheese is Provatura. The difference between Mozarella and Provatura is mainly the place of origin: Provatura cheese is made in the vicinity of Rome, Mozarella is produced near Naples.
Originally these cheeses were made from buffalo milk, but nowadays they are mostly made from cow's milk. There simply aren't enough buffalos to provide all the milk needed for the production of these cheeses! Just use ordinary Mozarella or Provatura if you can't get cheese from buffalo milk. Recipe: Panunto.

Murri - A spicy sauce made from fermented grain, used in medieval arab recipes. As a substitute, soy sauce is often recommended. In my opinion taotjo (fermented soy bean paste) is a better substitute. The recipe.

Must - See Stum

Mustard - This has always been a popular condiment. Mustard is made from the seeds of several species of the brassica-family (cabbage). From some varieties the leaves can be eaten, and the seeds not only serve to make mustard, but can also be pressed to yield a culinary oil, or distilled to make a medicinal oil. There are black, white and brown mustard seeds (from brassica nigra, sinapis alba en brassica juncea), each with their own specific properties. The first to are indigenous to Europe, the brown mustard has its origins in Asia. French mustard.

Mustard seeds - White mustard seeds are easier to find in the shops than black ones. White seeds are also softer, and can be crushed more easily. There is a difference in taste: white seeds are spicy, black seeds are really  hot. In the Middle Ages both kinds of seeds were used to make mustard. Because brassica nigra is difficult to harvest by machines, it is less and less cultivated nowadays. The asian brassica juncea has replaced black mustardseeds in the production of dark mustard. Recipe: French mustard.

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O

Oenogarum - Wine tempered with fish-sauce. Recipe: Roman patina with asparagus and quail.

Orange - see Citrus fruit

Orange blossom water or orange flower water - This is made with the flowers of the bigarade or Seville oranges. It originates in the Middle East where it was used to flavour syrups and dishes. In Europe it was first used to perfume bed linen, but by the seventeenth century it was also popular as food flavouring. Recipes: Crême brûlée, To make a Hedgehog.

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Parsnip -  A typical winter vegetable. Before the potatoe was introduced in Europe this farinaceous root was standard winter fare for many people. Parsnips do not have to be harvested, they can stay in the ground until needed. The roots are not harmed by the winter frost. You can find and eat fresh parsnips even at the end of winter and early spring. This makes them a typical lenten vegetable.
Once the parsnip has been frozen, the starch in the root is partly converted to sugar. Parsnips were therefore also used in sweet dishes by those people who could not afford to buy  (expensive!) sugar. The sweetness of parsnips is also enhanced by frying the roots after boiling. Recipe: Sallad of parsnips.

Partridge - Partridges are related to pheasants. Both are delicious fowl, much appreciated fare for the nobles since centuries. Not just because of their taste, partridge meat was excellent food to help recovering patients regaining their strength. Female partridges (hens) are tastier than males. That is because the females have a higher percentage of body fat (regrettably, the same goes for humans).
The hunting season is from september to january. However, partridges are listed as a threatened or near threatened species in many countries and regions. So if you buy partridges, chose farm raised ones. They may taste 'less wild', but at least the wild birds are safe.  Recipe: Potage à la Reyne.

Passum - Sweet white wine used in recipes from Roman antiquity. The wine is sweet because of the partly dried grapes that were used for it. They have a higher sugarcontent then fresh grapes. In Italy passum-type wines are still being produced, for example the Vino Santo. Recipe: Roman Mussels, Roman patina with asparagus and quail.

Pig stomach - Like humans, pigs have but one stomach (cows have several). In the meat industry pig stomach is used in sausages, but also as encasing of sausages (at least, in 1965). As I have mentioned above, it is difficult to buy a whole pig stomach. If you kill your own pig, or know people who do, here's what to do with the stomach according to my Butcher's Book from 1965: first of all, the stomach must be cleaned: cut away grease; make an incision in the large curvature: through this hole push out the contents of the stomach, then turn the stomch inside out. The wrinkled mucous membrane will pop out. Rinse the stomach well and steep in cold water. The next day you can peel of the mucous membrane. [...] The rest, stull mucous, will be conserved in salt. (from Moderne beenhouwerij en charcuterie [+ Modern butcher and meat products], p.211). On the left you can see a picture of a stuffed pig stomach, with thanks to Nick Stanley (source).
Stuffed pig stomach (saumaagen, seimaage or hogmal) is said to have been a traditional dish on Thanksgiving (November 14) with Dutch families in Pennsylvania, en in Germany this dish still is popular in the Palatinate (source). Recipe: Tasty hedgehogs.

Pomegranate - This fruit grows on a small tree (Punica granatum) that is indigenous to Iran. You eat the pulp that is surrounding the seeds. This pulp is divied by uneatable membranes that have to be removed. The pips can be swallowed or spit out, what you prefer (or what the custom is where you live).
In ancient Greek mythology the pomegranate is connected to the change of seasons: because Persephone swallowed a pomegranate seed she had to remain in the underworld for a third of the year. During her stay with Hades it is winter on Earth. Recipe: Potage à la Reyne.

Pike - A freshwater fish (Esox lucius) that looks -at least to me- like Donald Duck: its beak resmbles the Disney bird's bill.  Pikes also swim in the canal right in front of my study. Be careful of a pike's beak, even when lying dead on the kitchen worktop: the teeth are positioned inward, whatever enters it (for example your thumb when you try to get a better grip on the big slippery slimy fish, as I once did) will have trouble getting out. A pike has no scales, but like trout a protective layer of slime on its skin. This means you can cook it 'au bleu' (adding vinegar to the liquid will give the fish a blue hue if the fish is fresh). Pike is used in delicate dishes, but most people are not very fond of the fish because of the many fish bones. Moreover, a pike can taste 'muddy', it lives at the muddy bottom of waters, and sometimes ingests some of the mud. That is why some old cookbooks advise to keep the living pike a few days in a basin with clean water to get rid of the muddy aftertaste. Then your pike will be a real delicacy! That is also why dishes with pike were so popular in the Middle Ages on fast days. The very white meat is still loved in classic French cuisine, where it is made into quenelles (spiced and poached farce).Recipe: Pyke in galentyne.

Pork caul - The French call this crépine. The caul is the part of the peritoneum attached to the stomach and to the colon and covering the intestines. You can buy it deep-frozen. To thaw a caul, put it in cold water with salt that you change once in a while. When the caul is completely thawed, you can spread it out, and see a thin membrane with veins of fat. It reminds me a bit of lace, rather attractive, actually.
Why would one use a caul in the kitchen? Because it is so thin and the fat melts away in the preparation, it is ideal to wrap food in that would otherwise fall apart. And the melting fat serves as a kind of "instant dripping". Use what you need of the caul, but not more. Do not wrap the caul six times around your meat because otherwise  you have to throw it away, the dish won't taste any better, on the contrary. A caul is cheap, you won't go broke if you do not use it all. Recipes: Mortadella, Hedgehogs.

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Quinces - These downy apple or pear shaped fruit, officially called Cydonia oblonga, originate from the Caucasus. The ancient Greek already knew and loved quinces. The quince was dedicated to Aphrodite, and probably the (in)famouse Apple of Paris was in fact a quince.
Quinces are very odiferous. Because of their pleasant smell they were used in perfumes and as "air-fresheners".
Quinces are practically inedible when still raw. They are very hard and sour. Mostly they are cooked, but you can also roast them in the oven, like apples. Because of the high amount of pectine quinces make excellent jellies. When cooked the fruit has turned a delicate pink.
Harvesttime is October/November, but quinces keep for a long time.  Recipes: Medieval christmas goose, Quince cake, Quince jelly, Murri, Stuffed quinces.    

R

Raisins - These are dried grapes. There are several kinds of raisins, depending on the kind of grape that was used. Sultana's are NOT raisins a special brand, but the dried berries from the sulatana grape. Currants are original the dried grapes of a grape variety with small berries that was grown in Corinth (Greece). There are more varieties used for raisins, like the Seedless Thompson. Recipes: Strawberry pudding, Stuffed quinces.

Rice - Rice is associated primarily with Asian cuisine. The grain is indeed indigenous to Asia, but was introduced in Europe as early as 327 BC by Alexander the Great. However, it remained a curiosity for a long time. Exactly one recipe with rice can be found in the Roman cookbook De Re Coquinaria, pounded as thickener for a sauce for meat balls. It wasn't until the conquest of the Iberic paeninsula by the Moors in 711 AD that rice was introduced as a crop. It would take another seven centuries before rice was grown in Italy, in the Po Valley. In Spain as well as Italy both short and middle long grain rice was grown. Recipe: Blancmange with crayfish.

Rose water - This is indeed water that is perfumed with rose petals. In the modern Western cuisine its use is obsolete (except in  e.g. marzipan), but during the Middle Ages and Renaissance it was a popular condiment (as was orange blossom water). In the Middle-East and India rose water is still in use. Recipe: Panunto, Flowers in jelly for Valentine.

Rue - A little shrub (Ruta graveolens), indigenous to Southern Europe. The odiferous plant has a strong, bitter taste. The ancient Greeks and Romans loved rue, and it is still an ingredient in the Italian drink Grappa Ruta. In modern cuisine rue has mostly dissappeared, which is a pity. A few rue leaves in broth are very good. However, it is thought to be an  antaphrodisiac (quelches lust), and pregnant women must be careful not to use too much of it, because it could also be abortive. But a leaf or two won't do any harm.
Rue plants can be found at garden centers. It is quite decorative, a semi-perennial with small yellow flowers that can be used to decorate any dish. Recipes: Medieval Arab pasties, Beef Stock, Roman broccoli, Mulahwaja.

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Saffron - The orange-red stigmas of a crocus. In medieval times (as in modern times) it was used to colour dishes yellow. If you want to have the most effect of the colouring, crush the dried stigmas in a spoonful of hot liquid (water, milk, broth, vinegar, whatever is most fitting for the recipe it is used in). Recipe: Fake fish (medieval apple pie).

Sage - A decorative perennial evergreen, Salvia officinalis. If you have the use of a garden, be sure to plant one! You can pick the leaves all year round. Classical combinations are with chicken livers, with onions as a stuffing for pork, and in several egg dishes. Be careful, the taste can become overbearing.
Originally sage was used as a medicine (as the Latin name shows), but by the Late Middle Ages sage also became an ingredient in recipes for food. Recipes: Stuffed eggs, Medieval Goose.

Saltpetre - What I have used is a mixture that you can buy at Dutch butcher's shops of salt, sugar and saltpetre (in a ratio of 100:2:1) In Dutch it is called pekelzout (litterally "brine salt"). You must be careful with it, too high a dose can cause nausea and diarrhoea. Why would one use such a poisonous substance instead of ordinary salt? Saltpetre permeates the meat completely. A ham would look very unappetizingly grey if no saltpetre or nitrate was used in curing. Moreover saltpetre prevents anaerobic bacteria (bactaria that don't need oxygen to multiply). The food industry used saltpetre or nitrate a lot, but its use is not new, saltpetre was already in use in prehistoric times. But BE CAREFUL when you use it, or use plain salt instead.
And to conclude this short description of saltpetre: it is also a component of gunpowder (that is why you can't easlily buy pure saltpetre), and was thought to be an anaphrodisiac (but that is not true). Recipe: Mortadella.

Sandalwood - Yes, it is wood! Red (from Pterocarpus santolina) and yellow or white (both from Santalum freycinetianum) wood dust from fragrant sandal trees were used as food colouring in medieval and early modern Europe. Before tomatoes and red bell peppers were introduced in the European kitchens, it was difficult to give your dishes a red colour, so red sandalwood was used especially. You can buy it as wood chips, but for colouring you need the fine, deep red powdered wood. Sandelwood is also used in scents and incense. Recipe: Pyke in galentyne.

Sesame oil - Meditteranean sesame oil is pressed from raw seeds, chinese sesame oil is pressed from toasted seeds, resulting in a stronger flavoured, darker oil. So take care that you use the right sesame oil. Recipes: Spicy meat balls, Medieval Arab pasties, Meatballs in aubergine sauce. 

Soy sauce - There are many kinds of soy sauce. It is made from fermented soy beans and wheat flour, and salt. In the Netherlands Indonesian ketjap is the best known soy sauce (a thick and sweet soy sauce). Worldwide Chinese and Japanese soy sauce are widely used. Chinese soy sauce is thick and salty, Japanese soy sauce is thin and salty (yes, soy sauce is salty) and can be either dark or light (although it is rather dark too). There is a great variety in quality, you'll have to find out which brand and variety you lie best for yourself.
You can't interchange Japanese and Chinese soy sauce. For a Japanese dish, use Japanese soy sauce, and for a Chinese dish, use Chinese soy sauce, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Recipes: Chinese soy sauce: Chinese Tomato Soup. Japanese soy sauce: Tea Eggs. 

Spelt flour - Spelt is a grain. This grain flourishes best on poor ground, with no pesticedes. That is why less and less spelt is being cultivated since the beginning of the twentieth century. It is an uneconomical crop. Apicius names spelt several times in his recipes. You can buy spelt flour (at least in the Netherlands) in organic foodshops. Recipe: Roman bread.

Spice mix for Speculaas - In The Netherlands you can buy the spices for speculaas premixed. I doubt whether that is the case elsewhere in the world. So here you have a mixture to make yourself: Take cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper, ginger and cardamom (everything powdered) in a ratio of 8:2:2:1:1:1  (whether you use grams, teaspoons or tablespoons, the proportions must be the same). The used spices betray the age of the recipe for speculaas: this combination of spices can be found in many fifteenth century recipes. Recipe: Speculaas with rich almond filling.

Strawberry - The strawberries we eat today are varieties from American (North and South) strawberries. These were introduced in Europe in the seventeenth century. If you want to make an authentic medieval dish you should use small European wood strawberries. They are difficult to find and rather expensive once you have found them. I tried to find some wood strawberry plants in garden homes to grow in my garden, but even there they are difficult to find. 
Wild strawberries are smaller than ordinary strawberries, they smell delicious and taste even better. They are really worth your while to try and find them! However, if you do not succeed, use modern strawberries instead. The dish will be just as pink and almost as tasty (however, first sample a strawberry, because some strawberries only taste of water). Recipe: Strawberry pudding.

Stum or must - This is fermenting grape juice. When ripe grapes are pressed, the juice will ferment (through natural or added yeast). Must can't be kept in a closed container, the gasses must be able to escape. When the first, hefty yeasting is over the must will ripen into young wine. Must is only available just after the grapes are pressed after the harvest, for a short period. I once drank it in october in Wallis (the wine province of Switzerland). It was frizzy and refreshing in taste. Recipes: French mustard, Verjuice.

Suet - This cooking fat is hardly ever used in Dutch cuisine. Suet is the hard fat around the kidneys and loins in beef, but there is also suet from veal and mutton or lamb. Its use is more common in the English cuisine, to make mince pies and suet puddings. See also Tallow. Recipes:  Strawberry pudding, Capon with caper-sauce, Black salsify fritters.

Szechwan pepper (Xanthoxylum piperitum) - You can't use black or white pepper instead of this Chinese pepper, the peppercorns have a decidedly different taste. They are often roasted before use. Recipe: Chinese Stock.

T

Tail fat - In Europe and large parts of the world  there are sheep with small, thin tails. However, in the Middle East and North Africa you find since prehistoric times the so called "fat-tail sheep". Every one in four sheep in the world is a fat-tail sheep. These sheep store the fat in the tail, instead of throughout their body. The tail is enlarged because of the fat. This storage of fat in the tail results in lean meat. The tail fat, which melts at lower temperature, was much appreciated in the Middle Ages in the Arab cuisine, not only to prepare meat, but also in sweet dishes. (source: Alan Davison, The Oxford Companion of Food). Recipe: Arab meatballs in aubergine sauce

Tallow - This is rendered suet. You can buy it at supermarkets as beef shortening (the picture shows the Belgian/Dutch commercial tallow for deepfrying), but you can also make it yourself (see here). Because fat congeals when it cools, you must filter it after each use when it is still liquid. Keep the fat in a cool place. By the way, if you prefer vegetable oil for deepfrying: that also has to be filtered before storing away. It may be clear that tallow is not to be used for vegetarians. If you use different kinds of fat for deepfrying (as I do), store them all with labels on which you note how often and when it was used.
Fat that congeals at lower temperatures (animal and vegetable) is less and less used in The Netherlands, probably because of the extra work it entails. And tallow, being an animal fat, is of course regarded as highly suspicious, because of the scare for bad fat. However ... if you only use tallow occiasionally, nothing is wrong with it. Recipe: Black salsify fritters.

Tarragon - Be careful if you ever decide to grow your own tarragon.First of all, often Russian tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus var.inodora) is sold as kitchen herb (at least in The Netherlands), while the term inodora indicates that this plant hardly has any flavour. So be sure to find real French tarragon. Second warning: if your tarragon is happy, it will start to grow rank, sprouting up everywhere. So choose the spot where you want to plant your tarragon carefully.
Dried tarragon has hardly any flavour. If you do not have tarragon in your garden, use frozen tarragon, or ask your green grocer. Recipes: Herb soup with potato balls, Salmon Salad.

Turmeric - Is also known as kunjit or curcuma (Curcuma longa). Just like ginger and galanga it is a rhizome. The Dutch name is 'yellowroot', and that is exactly what turmeric is: very, very yellow, nearly orange. Stains from turmeric are difficult to remove (no wonder it's also used as dye). The plant is indigenous to Southeast Asia and India. In some parts of the world, like the Isle Maurice, turmeric is called 'safran' (fresh turmeric is called 'safran vert', and what we call saffron is 'jaffran' (hindi) or 'safran oriental' (creole)). Recipe: Vindaye.

U

V

Vanilla - Together with potatoes and cacao, the vanilla pod (Vanilla planifolia) is one of the ingredients originating from the New World. Nowadays vanilla is mainly grown on islands in the Pacific Ocean. The flowers have to be pollinated by hand, because the hummingbirds and insects that take care of that in Central America are absent in the Pacific region.
Vanilla pods are the 'fruit' from the vanilla orchid, a climber. The pods are harvested before ripening, steamed and fermented. If you cut the pod open lengthwise you can scoop out the very small black seeds to use in dishes. You can also use the pod itself, but that has to be removed before serving.
You can also buy synthetic vanillin, which is a lot cheaper, but also a lot less in flavour. Recipe: Moutayes.

Verjuice - The juice of sour, unripe grapes that was used in the Middle Ages and up to the eighteenth century. You can still buy it, but you may have to look for it. In the Netherlands verjuice was also made from unripe apples and sorrel. You can use applecider vinegar as a substitute. Make your own Verjuice. Recipes: Blackberry sauce, Meatballs in head lettuce, Eggplants in eggplantsauce, Medieval stuffed chicken.

Vin Santo - Sweet Italian wine from Tuscany. Is drunk as dessert wine. See Wikipedia for more information. Recipe: Zabaglione.

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Y

Yoghurt - Actually yoghurt is method of conserving milk. There are many kinds of yoghurt. It originates from Asia. This no coincidence: different from Europeans, Asian people often have a lactose intolerance. For them, yoghurt is much easier to digest than milk. 
Yoghurt is produced by adding some kind of lactic acid bacteria to milk, which will ferment as a result. There are diffrent species of bacteria, each resulting in a different kind of yoghurt. If you can find more than one kind in the shops where you live, try out several yoghurts to experience the differences. I like a really sour yoghurt. Often the mass produced supermarket yoghurt (at least in the Netherlands) is to bland to my taste. But bland seems to be the taste of the mass public in everything. Recipe: Arab meatballs in aubergine sauce

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This page was updated on 09-01-10 (d-m-y).